Strawberry Blonde or Fiery Red?
by crazylily
Summary: NatalieAnne comes to help teach at Hogwarts, but off the bat Niki Kanto, former best friend to missing Lily Evans picks up that something is different about this girl. What will she do? Can NatalieAnne live her lies? come find out!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: so I promised a new story, and I like this idea more, so until I can figure out the other two, I will write this one in my free time. I got this idea from multiple stories I've read, but just some of the ideas, got to mix it up a little. I really like this start. It seems to change everything. Sorry if it is a little confusing, but hey what's a good story with out being lost? well Review for me, and let me know if you like it!**

**CrazyLily

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Straberry Blonde or Fiery Red?

Chapter 1

Her strawberry-blonde hair flew behind her in the light wind as she walked along the path to Hogwarts. She looked up at the baby blue sky with her cerulean blue eyes that held specs of purple and green. Of course she did not always look like this. No, her hair was never strawberry-blonde when she attended Hogwarts, it was as red as the first rose that would blossom in her yard every summer, her eyes where not the beautiful blue she had now, they where an irreplaceable emerald green that still had a way of showing through her greatest spells in a time of great distress.

She didn't trust herself with her emotions, instead she kept a strait face constantly, her eyes stone cold, occumelency would be no good, and she had learned to defend herself against it. In short, she had put a seemingly invincible shield up so no one would know who she was, or the secrets she held deep within, and trust that there are many of them.

She smiles at the building and remembers all the nights she spent running rancid through it with her countless boyfriends, her best friends, and even her enemies. Finally she walks to the foot of the steps where she is warmly greeted by the presence of Albus Dumbledore.

"Bonjour Professeur, comment ca va?" The cerulean eyed girl asked.

"I am in great health, how are you Natalie-Anne?" The girl flinched at the sound of the name. She saw his eyes twinkle as he said, and it unsettled her.

"I am très bon Dumbledore." That must've been it. She called him professor, she went on. "I can not wait to get started at a school I have read so much about, it is more extravagant that I could have ever imagined." She dropped the French accent. It was just for fun really. She gave a half hearted smile as they slowly walked up the steps to the front doors, which where shut tight. She wasn't positive she was ready for the invaluable memories that would surely flow through her when those doors opened. It was both her dream, and her nightmare.

She remembers all the people she left behind. She changed her name, bleached and died her hair, and took a self made potion to change her eyes to the desired appearance, no one knew that recipe. It is her fool proof plan. She couldn't continue with the life she had left behind, but she couldn't just leave it like that. No one would be able to interfere.

Dumbledore brought her out of her daydreams. "I'm ever so sorry Natalie-Anne," That name was really getting to her. "But I will not be able to show you around the castle. I have other business to tend to, but fear not, one of my former students' who is also going to help teach this year is here and would love to show you around." Natalie-Anne had a bad feeling about this, and as she walked through the doors, all she wanted to do was run. "Natalie-Anne, this is James Potter, graduated second in his class from Hogwarts, youngest out of Auror training to date, and is going to help teach Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts when I deem it necessary. Also, I presume he probably knows more about this school than even me and the ghosts combined." He chuckled lightly. "Anyway, I best be off, much work to do. Stay out of trouble James, have fun Natalie-Anne, good day to you both." And with that the professor was out of sight.

Natalie-Anne stood thunderstruck as she looked at the man standing in front of her. _Please be anyone other than him. _She thought, but as she took in his appearance she knew he was the one and only.

His jet black hair was short, but stood on end in the back. It was the same unruly hair he had all those years back. His chocolate brown eyes where enlarged by the perfectly round glasses that bridged across his nose. He was tall and muscular, but still lean, and looked like he was no older than eighteen. His smile was as warm as the sun on your skin during the cold winter days his eyes held a friendly look to them, and didn't hold the glint that was usually present back in his days at Hogwarts.

"So Natalie-Anne is it?' she half heartedly nodded. "Sorry about Dumbledore, he's always running around now." His smile was the same one she remembered from school, one she knew she could never forget. "By the way, my name is James in case you didn't pick that up." She could tell he was getting nervous. "So what class are you helping with?" He changed the subject rather quickly and caught her off guard.

"I'm going to be doing Potions and Charms when the professors aren't there, but Dumbledore said mostly Potions though." She had to be careful; he couldn't know she knew who everyone really was.

"Sounds fun." He said off handedly. "I never really understood charms. My friends helped me until NEWTs, and then we all needed help. My girlfriend at the time was the charms master." Natalie-Anne tried to keep a straight face. Her eyes where turning emerald, she could feel it. She now realized where he was leading her, the old Heads' dorm. "I wish I knew what happened to her." He proceeded off in a trance. "She was the love of my life. Only girlfriend my mother ever liked. It was depressing when she vanished, I blame myself."

Natalie-Anne saw a tear trickle down his face and did her best to keep her face indifferent. "I'm sorry to hear that." She said in a soft, yet strong voice.

"Yeah, anyway, tell me about yourself." James said putting on a fake smile she'd seen so many times before; he was good at lying, but not hiding the truth.

"My name is Natalie-Anne Woloshuck, which is Russian. I'm a self taught witch and excelled on both the OWLs and NEWTs which I took at the British Ministry of Magic when I was of age to take them. I lived in Russia and traveled until I was eighteen, then I moved to France for a couple of years, then came to Britain. My first language is English, but I speak both Russian and French fluently. I got this job when I met Dumbledore at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade one night. He was looking for a teacher; I was looking for a job. I'm an Auror in training at the Ministry and I will have my license in a month." Natalie-Anne said quickly, and smiled to herself at James' shocked expression.

"Impressive." James said in deep thought. He had never met such an impressive girl, save Lily Evans. She took the cake, with fiery red hair that just screamed attitude. Her emerald eyes where always full of emotion, whether it was joy, anger, irritation, laughter, annoyance, lust, or James' least favorite, sadness, there was always something there. Most of all, he loved how they fit perfectly together, whether it be emotionally, intellectually, or physically, it was a perfect fit.

They walked in silence to what Natalie-Anne remembered was the Head's dorm when she was a seventh year. "So Natalie-Anne, you me and two other 'assistants' as Dumbledore so fondly calls us, will be staying down here, the password is chaos." He says standing in front of a portrait, but closes it before it opens. The young professor in the portrait gives a dignified glare, and then graciously went back to her tea.

Natalie-Anne gave him a curious look before he explained.

"You will be sharing a room with this girl Niki Kato, she's a pretty cool girl, graduated third in my class here, and she's Japanese, so I think you will get along pretty well." Natalie-Anne gave a weak smile, afraid of seeing the girl, and James led her into the common room.

"Natalie-Anne, this is my best friend Sirius Black, and then this Niki Kato. Guys this is Natalie-Anne… er…" He had forgotten her last name; she gave a low sigh before saying "Woloshuck." Natalie-Anne had to shut down her emotions on call and did so successfully.

Sirius Black was tall and built just like James. They could still easily pass as brothers. The only different was Sirius had tamed black hair that was down just ending at his shoulder blades. It was smooth as silk, and his stormy grey eyes could make almost any girl melt, almost because it never had succeeded on Niki Kato, or Lily Evans. That still baffled him. James found it funny.

Niki Kato was of average height with a slim build. She had a charming smile with deep brown eyes; her hair was jet black and was generally pulled into a perfect bun, or French braid.

"Hi." Natalie-Anne said with a weak smile. "Er… I think I'm going to go unpack my stuff." She then rushed up the stairs in a hurry, only to run back down after realizing that was the boys' room (come on, big mess). The boys gave a light laugh and began playing chess. Niki followed her up.

"Hey need any help?" Niki asked from the door as Natalie-Anne turned to look at her.

"No, I'm fine thanks." Natalie-Anne replied as calmly as she could.

Niki took a seat on her bed and watched Natalie-Anne unpack in silence. She had a weird air to her, like she was hiding a big secret from the world. Niki watched her carefully, yet discreetly, and then she realized what it was.

"Oh my dear Merlin, what have you done?" Niki said in what she thought was in an undertone. Natalie-Anne stood stark still. There was no way this was happening already.


	2. Chapter 2

_Strawberry-Blonde or Fiery Red?_

"What has who done?" Natalie-Anne asked as if she had no idea what Niki was talking about. She looked in the mirror and focused on cerulean, her eyes had multiple flickers of emerald, but she cast a purple to them, her darkness. She checked her facial expression and knew it was indifferent, yet there was a natural look to her face that gave away fear.

Niki looked at the strawberry blonde, and knew what she saw. She didn't see a born Russian, no way. There was more to this girl than met the eye, and she was going to find out. She replied with an indifferent answer, "Forget it, you just reminded me of an old friend." This really wasn't a lie. It was the honest truth. She was reminded heavily of Lily Evans, but the fact remained that Lily had shining emerald eyes, and flaming red hair. She knew there was no way this girl could be her Lily, but possibly related? That was it, she knew it.

"Oh. Well I can't say I've ever met anyone quite like you before." Natalie-Anne tried to say as if it where true. She managed it, but it was difficult. She smiled lightly and said, "So James didn't tell me much about you. Care to share?" She didn't have to make it sound like she really was interested. She really truly was.

"I'm an Auror in training, and won't be fully qualified for another year, unlike James; I wasn't born with the natural gift of potion making unfortunately. I'm twenty-one, as are James and Sirius. We went to school here together, Sirius was a player, James was until he fell in love, and broke my best friends' heart, and then she broke his when she left. Me personally though, I'm a simple girl who is working for Dumbledore because I have no live and needed a good job to pay through Auror training. I specialize in charms, but I know History of Magic better than Professor Bins. He's a ghost who teaches the subject, Dumbledore is giving him a little time off this year to see if I can do better. Let's see, that's about it for now. What about you?" She was sharp and quick, and Natalie-Anne knew it when she first started talking. Nothing had changed since Hogwarts really. She still was not with Sirius. _Note to self: figure that one out._ Natalie-Anne reminded herself.

"I'm the same age as you guys; I've been a loner since I turned eighteen. I have traveled some, lived in France, grew up in Russia." _What a lie that is. _Natalie-Anne thought as she said it. "Charms are what I do, but apparently I'm helping with Charms, and doing a lot of Potions with Sirius I believe, unless of course it would be you." She saw the girl's eyes darken as she said his name; yeah the passion was still there. She shook her head to say that she wasn't doing Potions. "I was recommended to the Dumbledore by someone at the ministry. I'm a simple girl in my own world. That's all anyone really needs to know." Natalie-Anne was very definitive in what she said, and Niki was not ready to question this girl's intent, not yet at least.

"Cool." That's all Niki chose to say. She knew saying more would betray her true thoughts. "Yeah Black, well that's Sirius' last name." Natalie-Anne nodded in understanding. "Anyway Black is helping you out with Potions." Natalie-Anne scuffed at that thought, even the thought of Sirius teaching, but helping her teach, this would be a long year. She looked up to see Niki's knowing look, she hated that look. It was a classic look back in the day, when she denied her love for James generally.

"Well I'm all packed. Want to go back down to the common room?" Natalie-Anne asked in a falsely cheery voice. She wasn't to content with the idea of having to lie to James and Sirius. Never really could lie to either of them. _No, that was then, this is now. I can lie to anyone and everyone. I am a master occulemency. They can not break my shield. _Natalie-Anne knew this was only partially true, they could see through anything she put up, and she knew this better than anyone.

"If you want to, but I warn you, Potter and Black can be rather annoying at times." Niki said offhandedly. Natalie-Anne noticed how after all these years they were still 'Potter' and 'Black'. "More like always." Natalie-Anne heard Niki mutter under her breath. She couldn't help but grin. This girl would never change.

Downstairs James and Sirius had been speaking about the new girl who had arrived.

"She seems so familiar." James said, he was in a trance and Sirius gave him an incredulous look. Sirius hadn't seen that trance in forever and a couple days. It was the look he used to get when he would think of Lily. Sirius smacked him

"Don't get any funny ideas lover boy. She is no Lily Rose Evans and you know dam well she can't replace Lils." Sirius was very stern and demanding. James snapped out of his day dream and stared at Sirius.

"That's exactly who she seems like. She seems a lot like my Lily Flower. Well her personality at the very least. She doesn't look a lot like Flower, but you know, looks only mean so much."

To say Sirius was in awe was an understatement. His mouth hung open and he couldn't believe a word that had just come out of his best friend's mouth. Replacing Lillian Evans was never an option.

James looked at his best friend before saying. "Okay, I'll shut up now. But don't think for a second that I don't believe that." Sirius gave him a defeated look, but didn't reply.

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**A/N: Okay here you go, chapter two! sorry it took so long, i didn't like it, and still don't, but I'm on spring break, and while i'm outside catchin some sun 2morrow, i plan on writing :-p So please review and tell me what you think. I really really don't like this chapter, but i didn't want you all to have to wait longer :( so REVIEW!**

**CrazyLily**


	3. Chapter 3

_Strawberry-Blonde or Fiery Red?_

_chapter 3_

"Hey guys." Niki got down to the common room first, she looked Sirius dead in the eye (this really was a rare occasion) and he nodded. Sure they didn't get along that well, but it didn't mean that they didn't understand each other.

Natalie-Anne followed suite, yet missed the look. James flashed his dazzling smile at her as she took a seat across from him on the couch. There was a moment of tense silence before the portrait whole swung open.

James and Sirius darted up from their places on the couch opposite the girls. "Remus! Dumbledore didn't tell us you were coming." James said over enthusiastically just happy to break the fearful silence. Remus just smiled and greeted him. He then looked over at where the girls where sitting.

He looked at Niki, then too the strawberry-blonde sitting next to her. "I don't believe we have… met?" Remus said in slight awe. Natalie-Anne wasn't by the least bit caught off guard. She expected Remus to be a bit more observant than the rest, he knew all her secrets, and could see what was beyond her looks, legamancy couldn't stop him.

Natalie-Anne decided she best rise and greet the boy. She stood up against him. Her platform sneakers made her appear taller than she truly was. She leveled with him, and they stood eye to eye. He looked deep into hers, and she did everything she could not to betray a thing. "I can't say we have. My name is Natalie-Anne, but by the way, you guys can just call me Nat, or Natalie, I don't mind. Natalie-Anne is rather long I suppose." Yeah this was another bad habit of Natalie's, when at loss for words, she rambled. A lot.

Remus smiled. "Nice to me you Nat, my name is Remus Lupin." Natalie just nodded, smiled, and shook the hand he offered her. "So you new to Hogwarts?" Natalie was caught off guard slightly. She'd think the answer was obvious; then again, this was Remus. Natalie didn't trust herself to speak so instead settled with a nod.

Finally she dared to look into his stormy grey eyes. They were stone, not cold, but they were impossible to read. They were his shield, his where-wolf instincts gave him the ability to not allow anyone to know what was going through the crazy mind he held. Natalie hated it, and wanted him to let her see through it.

She finally took in his appearance. His sandy blonde hair was messy, yet perfect. He had a strong build, but wasn't as strong as Sirius or James. He didn't need to work out like them; his natural blood line gave it to him. His eyes were a dark ocean blue and held mysteries and hardships no regular person could ever bare to imagine. The only thing that had changed about him was that he looked older. She gave a small smile and decided to sit back down; Niki whispered something in her ear.

"Don't fall too fast." Natalie looked at her and saw the smirk come across her lips. Natalie fought the urge to smile. This girl was good at playing games, and Natalie wasn't about to play into her game.

"He's really not my type though." Natalie bit back and watched as the smile diminished from Niki's lips.

"I like this idea. Niki hasn't been challenged since… you know…" James trailed off back into his day dream. Remus and Sirius exchanged a look that clearly said James would be back on cloud 9 for a while, and that they would get down to the bottom of this Natalie-Anne Woloshuk person.

"So Natalie you like what you've seen so far?" Sirius asked in a rather seductive voice. Niki indistinctively rolled her eyes, but did is as to prevent Sirius from seeing, though Natalie was sure that Sirius saw it just as well as she did, because at that moment she saw a small smile play in his eyes. Natalie decided she'd have to bite back and play along. She had to do something now didn't she?

"Well I've seen worse." She said in a faint voice, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. "Anyway," She said in a louder voice as to make them realize what she was doing. "It isn't too bad; I can't wait for it to get started on this job. Kind of nervous, but hopefully it will be okay." She said putting a little nervousness into her voice.

"It'll be fine; most of these kids won't question you if you're strong, but fun. As long as you keep their attention, and don't just drawl on, especially in History. Merlin I hated that class." Sirius said cheerfully.

"How would you know what had happened in that class? Most of the time you weren't there, and when you were, you were asleep." Remus said in a tone that you would expect from a parent. Sirius glared at him.

"I said I hated that class, you know dam well I knew the material." Sirius retorted.

"Yeah mainly the dark stuff." Remus replied in an undertone. Natalie knew without glancing at Sirius that Remus had struck a nerve.

Sirius rose slowly to his feet and walked in front of Remus. His voice was cold and deadly, but calm as he spoke. "You know I never wanted to know any of it. I didn't choose to come from that family." Sirius said. Natalie looked at Remus for a reaction. All he did was stand up and looked Sirius dead in the eye.

"It's not my fault either." He said in his deadly calm manner, and brushed pass Sirius shoulder and walked out the portrait to who knew where at Hogwarts.

"Relax Sirius." Niki said in a calm soothing voice. Sirius gave her a rather harsh look, and she stood up, and walked over to him, then took his hand and led him up to his dorm.

Natalie new she had to put on the act then. "What was that all about?" She asked James, the only other person in the room. James gave her a funny look.

"Sirius' family isn't exactly the best," James said, his voice was both hesitant, yet ready to spill the world. "He hasn't been to his house in four years. His parents are pretty dark, and Sirius isn't. He was basically disowned." James said, Natalie had to think quickly, she knew this, sure, but she couldn't let him catch on.

"Wow… so are you two really close?" She did her best to sound awe struck. She wouldn't meet his eyes, she knew she couldn't.

"He's like a brother to me." James replied staring at the girl before him. Her appearance took his breath away. He loved the way her strawberry-blonde hair flowed lovingly to above her shoulders. How her cerulean eyes had specs of purple flying through them. He loved how she all her curves were in the right places. Her face was like porcelain, and had no make up on a single surface of it. Her lips were full, and round. He hadn't felt this way in a while, but there was the sad fact that the day she left. He vowed never to love again.

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**A/N: Okay i got like 1 review for the last chapter :( and i really like this story and would love some feed back... so i hope ii get some more reviews... i should update again by wensday... so please review! I'm going to go start chapter 4 because I don't think i'm gonna get to sleep anytime soon... so REVIEW! and i promise to post soon :)**

**crazyLily**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay so this summer I have been really buissy, I have a full time job, and school work (that is a first for my summers) and on top of that swimming and a boyfriend. It's amazing I have a life. So hear is the next chapter of this story. I'd also like to mention I designed a myspace account specifically for my fan fic account. ( www . myspace . com / ffcrazylily ) feel free to add me (just take the spaces our of that…) lol anyway on with the story…**

_Previously: Remus lashed out about Sirius' family, and Natalie established the closeness between the three. _

"Relax Sirius he didn't mean it." Niki cooed to the boy that had chased her around for so many years.

They were situated on his bed, his head was bowed low and she had her arm around his shoulders and was making feeble attempts to get him to look at her.

"Niki you wouldn't understand." Sirius drawled in a sad voice. His stormy grey eyes had tears in them as he finally met her eyes. "I don't understand why Remus had to bring that up. He knows I hate it, and do take that seriously." Niki held back a snicker as Sirius glared at her. "I'm sorry it just hurts still sometimes. You know?"

Niki gave him a small smile not really having any idea what in the name of anything he was dragging on about. Though luckily for her, as Sirius's personality is, he recuperated quickly.

"So do you think I can get Natalie to go out with me? She's really hot." Sirius stated enthusiastically. Niki was ever so tempted to hit him in the back of the head, but instead just stared at the floor and spoke quietly.

"Don't bother, she loves James." And without further explanation, she left a very confused Sirius to his thoughts on the bed.

She walked into the common room to see Nat and James talking about Quidditch. This was a conversation Niki always loved to get into.

"What position do you play?" She asked as she walked in the room and watched both visibly jump.

"Seeker." Natalie stated in a clear cut voice.

"Keeper." Niki replied. "Hey we just need two more chasers and we could have a team!" Niki stated happily.

Natalie did her best to look rather confused at this.

"Sirius and Remus are both beaters." James explained shortly. "And of course you already know I'm the best chaser Hogwarts has ever seen."

"Yeah we had a pretty sick team back then. Remus and Sirius were always so in sync with each other that they could blindly hit the ball and it'd arrive at the other person in mere seconds. James well he could get pass any keeper in a second and had the best aim ever, well any keeper but me. I think in my Hogwarts career less than ten goals ever got by me." Niki boasted proudly. "Oh and our seeker, well we're not really sure what happened to her, but she holds the record for quickest amount of time taken to catch a snitch at Hogwarts… Second in the professional Quidditch league." Niki marveled.

"How fast?" Natalie asked trying to sound surprised. She looked at a dazed Niki for an answer.

"Four seconds flat." Remus and Sirius said as they both entered the room from different doors. There was a moment's uneasy pause before they smiled at each other and sat down.

"Dam that's fast." Natalie said with a smile on her face. They were wrong; the fastest was four and a half seconds. She wasn't second, but they couldn't rank a Hogwarts player, so she had to be placed second.

"Yeah so now I assume you see what we mean by dumb and dumber being in sync." James said and smirked as they both protested. "Yeah, yeah tell your selves that…" James said waving them off.

"So what do you guys do around here? I'm bored out of my mind!" Natalie stated wanting desperately to change the subject. Though she regretted it immediately as she saw identical grins reach the faces of the four surrounding her.

"Well Natalie," Remus stated in a seductive voice.

"We always start the year off with… what are the words I'm looking for prongsie?" Sirius continued.

"Well Padfoot my friend, we start the year off with some fun." James continued.

"A prank." Niki said half laughing, half rolling her eyes. "They hold the title and we want to uphold it.

"I'm in." Natalie said immediately. She watched as the three boys and one girl exchanged a curious look. "Listen I have master spell work and am great at fool proofing plans, I can only help." Natalie stated and regretted it immediately as everyone turned and looked at her, then looked at each other and came to a silent agreement.

"We'll work on it tomorrow." James spoke for the group. "Right now why don't you tell us about yourself?"

Natalie sighed before speaking. "I'm muggle born, traveled the world. Went to school at Beauxbaton, and Durmstrange, best or worst of both worlds I guess. I'm the best at what I do, and nothing stands in my way." She needed to push them away, and new this could be a productive way too.

She took a moment to admire her handy work on her former friends.

"Well not to be rude or anything but I think I'm going to go off to get some rest so we can plan tomorrow before the youguns show up." James stated and Remus and Sirius decided to go with him.

"I'm sorry Natalie, I'll be up in a minute I need to go talk to those knuckle heads." And with that Natalie was left to her own thoughts as she took head towards her room.

"Remus you see it right?" Niki asked as soon as she entered the room. The boys looked startled as they stood there in their boxers. Niki rolled her eyes at the insecurity within them.

"Yeah uncanny resemblance, but the hair and eyes are so different, yet exactly the same." Remus stated matter of fact-ly.

James and Sirius looked between the two as if they've lost their minds.

"I don't get it." James finally stated. Remus looked at Sirius and Niki heard a distinct "ooo" from Sirius.

"You idiot that's Lily Evans!" Sirius said to his best friend. James tackled him on an instant.

"Down Prongs, I'm pretty sure he's not joking." Remus stated. James glared at him. Niki smirked.

"Now that Sirius understands why I told him that 'Natalie-Anne' is already in love with our James, we just need to make him understand." Niki said James glared at her. "James you are so fricken thick! Honestly you think I wouldn't know my best friend if I saw her. They're too similar." She sated calmly while taking a seat at the edge of Sirius' bed before he pulled her to lay with him.

"Remus, tell me those two have completely lost their minds." James said as they observed Niki fighting to get out of Sirius' tight embrace.

"Sorry James, but I must agree. My werewolf instincts tell me that her eyes are really a deep emerald green, masked by the cerulean. Come on James you can't say you didn't think you've met her before." Remus said trying to get his friend to understand.

"I did." James said in defeat. "I just don't want to get my hopes up."

This was all Natalie could bear to hear as she quietly walked to her room and changed into her pajamas and settled into her bed.

**A/N: review**


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